


Back To You

by RachysAddictionToWords



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Childhood Friends, F/M, Original Character(s), Romance, no infidelity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-03-09 18:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18922939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RachysAddictionToWords/pseuds/RachysAddictionToWords
Summary: Natalie Perez returns to Starling after leaving 12 years ago, just after Oliver, one of her best friends, goes missing. Having shared a close bond with Oliver Queen for almost her entire life, the two soon find that their bond never diminished, despite over a decade of being apart. Oliver is engaged to Felicity and is working on bonding with his son, but will the two lifelong friends overcome everything and become what everyone has seen since they were kids?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Oliver and Felicity got back together after the island blew up and he proposed to her after the events of the season 5 finale. It’s been 8 months since William learned the truth and the island thing happened. Also, Laurel never died. After Tommy’s death she went to start again in another city, but she is mentioned once or twice. Thea is NOT Malcom’s daughter, she is Robert’s biological child.   
>    
> I stopped watching Arrow after season 5 (really season 4 but I’ve included tidbits of season 5) so basically I know nothing from season 5 forwards and even if I did, I doubt I’d include it. 
> 
> No copyright infringement intended. This is a work of fiction.

Oliver Queen wasn’t an outwardly sentimental person. Not to the public. On the surface he was a mayor that was trying, with a varying degree of success, to change the city that he was his. The press had superficial labels that he found degrading, certain reporters choosing to comment on the size of his bulge rather than the three glades clinics he had opened and the countless schemes he was working on to make his hometown a community worth being a part of.

To his family, his team, he was someone else. Oliver noticed things, remembered things. He cared about the little things and that’s what made him special to those he loved. He took pride in his son's academic achievements and teared up at the look of shock when he stuck William’s A grade report cards to the fridge. He loved the smile on his fiancée's face when he would make her favourite frittata or she saw the photo booth strip of the three of them that he kept tucked in his wallet. The picture of the Diggle’s and Queen’s at their weekly Sunday BBQ sat on the mantlepiece and he warmed at the hidden smile that John and Lyla both had when they saw it.  

For the people that had known him longest, this ran deeper. Only Thea knew of the picture of four smiling faces that was tucked inside his underwear drawer. It was only Thea that knew where he disappeared to for half an hour every Friday morning before heading into the office. She didn’t know what he wrote in his diary but she had suspected that her name had slipped in at least once. He had lost so many people, it was a wonder he didn’t cry himself to sleep at night. She knew of the only phone call they had shared in 12 years. Heard the whispers and sobs from Oliver, hiding in the dark hallway, before running back to bed. Sometimes Thea wished that she could pick and choose the people she’d lost. Fix things for her brother, even if that wasn’t a reality. He was happy, she’d never deny that. But that didn’t mean he was whole.  

It was rarity, in the life of Oliver Queen, to be without surprises. Good, bad or indifferent. The concept of a normal day hadn’t crossed his mind since before Lian Yu, now his life was made up of a mix of mayor, family man and hero. A knock at his office door shook him out of his mind’s wander and he opened his eyes to find Felicity walking through the door holding a Big Belly Burger bag.  

“Hey. I didn’t know you were planning on swinging by today?” He pecked her cheek as he got up to greet her before making his way to his desk chair and pulling her down with him. 

“I’m having problems getting everything sorted with starting Smoak Technologies and instead of driving Curtis crazy, he kindly suggested I take a break and bring you some lunch. Honestly, I think we underestimated how hard this would be, going from a Fortune 500 up-and-running company to nothing with no real business knowledge. Give me a database to hack any day but trying to start a business from the ground up is hard. Curtis suggested maybe getting a business manager in or someone that knows about business but this is our baby and we want to do it ourselves.” 

“It’s ok,” Oliver said, kissing her on the forehead. “You have time and you’re allowed to make mistakes. No one is forcing you or rushing you, and you and Curtis are two of the smartest people I know. You’ll get there.” 

Oliver and Felicity talked for a little longer and ate their burgers, discussing William’s progress at school and the patrol plan for that evening. It was strange for them to have no real ‘bad guy’ to face and he knew that himself, Felicity and Digg were growing antsy and waiting for the shoe to drop before something bad happened. When they had finished eating, Oliver threw the rubbish in the trash and Felicity started to put her heels and jacket back on. 

“I shouldn’t be too late home, I have one meeting this afternoon and then a small stack of paperwork to get done before the weekend but that’s all really. Thea said she was coming to dinner before we head to the bunker with us, I think she misses her favourite nephew, but I said I’d let her know the plans,” Oliver said.  

“Me and Curtis have a conference call with the bank to ask for a loan. We sent the business plan last week so hopefully they like it and offer the loan. Once we get back into QC’s building we can make a proper start up as long as there’s no issues. Who is your meeting with?” 

“A woman looking to open a new branch of her business here. She said she wanted to discuss some things to help the community and so we knew who she was. Miss Perez I think her name is. She has four already, one in London, one in Toronto, one in New York and one in Sydney. She’s looking now to open one here on the West Coast.” 

“Sounds good. Hopefully she’ll decide she wants to open here. Unemployment is still pretty high and the economy could use...” 

Felicity was interrupted as the sound of someone knocking echoed through the office. Glancing at the clock, Oliver called an affirmation to enter before standing, turning towards the door.  

“Natalie?”  


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natalie Perez returns to Starling after leaving 12 years ago, just after Oliver, one of her best friends, goes missing. Having shared a close bond with Oliver Queen for almost her entire life, the two soon find that their bond never diminished, despite over a decade of being apart. Oliver is engaged to Felicity and is working on bonding with his son, but will the two lifelong friends overcome everything and become what everyone has seen since they were kids?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to make Natalie live in London a) for the storyline and b) incase I added any British colloquialisms from my own speech. 
> 
> No copyright infringement intended. This is a work of fiction.

“Natalie?” 

“Oliver Queen.”  

Felicity looked between the two of them and the look of shock and happiness on Oliver’s face and the look of nostalgia on Natalie’s. Neither one of them seemed to make a move to talk or shake hands so she chose to interject. 

“Do you know each other?” 

“I’m an old friend of Oliver’s.” Natalie spoke quietly, barely looking away from Oliver while he himself remained frozen. The feeling of Felicity’s hand against his elbow shook him out of his stupor and he approached Natalie before embracing her in a warm hug.  

“You weren’t this muscly and stubbly the last time I got a hug,” Natalie said jokingly into his ear. Oliver huffed out a chuckle before removing himself from her embrace.  

“The last time you got a hug from the ‘professional cuddle monster’, I’d spent the night curled up underneath the kitchen island drunk before I passed out. Then I burnt the red velvet pop tarts.” 

Oliver turned around to Felicity and put his arm around her waist.  

“Nat, this is Felicity Smoak, my fiancée. Felicity, this is Natalie Me-Perez, we grew up together.” Oliver looked at Natalie with a strange expression when he said her surname. Of course, he knew when and why she’d changed it but he’d never spoken it aloud before. The two women smiled at each other and expressed pleasantries before yet another knock at the door and the unmistakable voice of Thea was heard.  

“Ollie, councilman Andrews just faxed this over asking if-” 

Thea looked up and saw Natalie before pausing, flicking her eyes between Oliver and Natalie that would rival that of a spectator at Wimbledon, before squealing and running towards the brunette woman and flinging her arms around her and gripping on for dear life. 

“What are you doing here in Star City? It’s been so long! What’s going on? What are you doing here? How long are you here?” Thea pulled back and froze at Natalie’s shocked expression on her face. “Is everything ok? You are ok, aren’t you?” Both women were starting to tear up and Felicity could see out of the corner of her eye that Oliver was too from watching his sister and this woman. She couldn’t help but feel slightly out of place at this dramatic reunion with this woman she’d heard nothing about and couldn’t decide whether she should stay or go.

Natalie held onto Thea’s cheeks as her tears started to escape, ignoring her own, the impact of seeing them again hitting her full force. Natalie wiped them away with the pads of her thumbs the way she had when Thea was a little girl. “I’m fine, Thea. I’m not ill, I’m not sick. I promise. We are looking to expand and thought a branch over on this coast would be a good idea and I couldn’t think of anywhere better than here. I’ve spent a really long time avoiding coming back and some things made me realise that I can’t avoid it forever. Plus, my wardrobe is looking a little repetitive and I need my personal stylist. I haven’t seen her in far, far, far too long.”   

“Do you still want to start this meeting, or do you want to do this another day? It looks like someone might have a thorn in their side now for the rest of the day,” Oliver asked Natalie, ignoring Thea’s glare.

“Do you mind if we leave the meeting until next week? We have bought the office space, or at least the offer has gone through. I have some staff members already employed that are relocating but I need to interview more here in the city. The reason for the meeting was mainly just to make sure the mayor knew of my plans and to see if there is any way we can contribute to any community projects. There is one clinic we are donating to but I want to have a good name here. I’m hoping to stay around three months, get everything sorted, appoint all of the positions and then I will head back to London.” 

Thea’s arms, still wrapped around Natalie’s waist, tightened and all three other adults could see the tension that surged through her at the thought of Natalie leaving. Felicity felt the same in Oliver’s body and a wave of anger and jealousy ran through her. Oliver had lost so many people. She had only seen this brief interaction but she could already tell that Natalie meant a lot to both Queens and she didn’t want either of them to lose someone so close again.  

“I will be back occasionally though. I will need to check in and I don’t think I could go so long before seeing my drama Queens again.”  

“Why don’t you come around for dinner tonight and we will catch up? There’s some people I’d like you to meet,” Oliver suggested.  

“Do you think that will be ok with William?” Felicity interjected quietly to Oliver.  

“Yes. He’s a lot more open than he was 8 months ago, and I want Natalie to meet the people in my life that matter and for you guys to get to know her.” 

“Who’s William?” Natalie said.  

“He’s my son.” 

“You guys have a son, congratulations.” 

“No. We don’t,” he said, gesturing between himself and Felicity. She blanched at his tone, as if the thought of a child with her was horrific. “Do you remember Samantha?” 

“Clayton? Yeah, I... Wow, Oliver. That’s... wow. Looks like you do owe me $500 in the end then.”

Oliver chuckled at that despite the slightly painful memory of his former self’s actions. 

“What?” Felicity asked, confused.  

“Me and Nat had this stupid fake bet going that when I was in my playboy phase that for every illegitimate child I had I owed her $500.”  

“It was only fake because even Oliver back then wasn’t that stupid. Kinda wishing it wasn’t so fake now.” Thea, Oliver and Natalie laughed at this but Felicity was reservedly angry by what Natalie had said. Oliver wasn’t stupid. Yes, he had made some careless mistakes but he wasn’t stupid.  

“But I’d be up for dinner. I’m sure everyone would love to hear some interesting stories about you,” Natalie said, smirking.  

“Only if you can deal with hearing some of your own. Where are you staying?” 

“The apartment. Technically, I own it now. I hadn’t even realised I’d never sold it and I got a letter last year saying the mortgage had been paid so it’s mine. But I have looked at a hotel as well.”  

Felicity was confused again. Why would she stay in a hotel if she had a perfectly good place to herself, albeit the place had to have been empty for what Felicity could assume was a long time while she’d been gone.  

“You can stay with me. If you don’t want to be in that place by yourself, I could use a roomie for a little bit,” Thea said.

“Really? Just like old times, just no climbing into my bed when you get scared that Freddie Kruger might come and get you.” 

“Perfect. Come over around 18:30 and I will introduce to William and I will invite Diggle and Lyla over.” Oliver smiled.  

Thea grabbed Natalie’s hand. “Come on. I will come with you to the apartment. Then you can decide where you want to stay.” Natalie and Thea said bye to Oliver and Felicity before leaving the office.  

Felicity turned to Oliver. “So... who is Natalie?” 

“Natalie and I grew up together. Me, Tommy and Natalie were pretty inseparable as kids.” A look of pain and sadness flashes through Oliver’s eyes when he says Tommy’s name, the loss of his best friend still heavy. 

“When did you guys last see each other? You’ve never mentioned her.” 

“The last time I saw Natalie was the morning I left on the Gambit. I’d gone out the night before and ended up at hers. I crashed and when I woke up in the morning she made me a cup of coffee, we said goodbye and that was the last time until now.” 

“What about when Tommy died? Did she not think to come back then?” She was angry to think that someone that had apparently been as ‘close’ to Tommy and Oliver hadn’t even turned up to the funeral. Even she had paid her respects and she’d barely met him.

“She and Tommy had a different relationship. I called her to tell her he’d died, it didn’t feel right someone else doing it, but I understood why she didn’t come back. And I couldn’t blame her. I left the funeral early to hide away on the island.”  

“Were Tommy and Natalie together?” 

“No! God, no. But it was different. And Natalie has been through a lot.” 

“Why doesn’t she want to stay in the place she owns though?” 

“She and Tommy lived there together. It... It has a lot of memories. Some really good ones, for all of us. But I don’t think either of us could stay in that place.” 

Felicity looked down at her watch. “I really need to run. We have that meeting with the bank in half an hour and I really don’t want to be late.” 

“It’s ok. Now that I don’t have a meeting I’m going to speed through the paperwork I have and head out early. I’m gonna head to the store too and grab what I need to make dinner.” 

“Don’t we have enough food at home to make dinner?” 

“Yes, but I want to make Natalie’s favourite. She used to order it all the time when we had Mexican food until Raisa taught me how to make it. I’m sure Raisa would love to see Natalie too.” 

Felicity grabbed Oliver’s hand before reaching up to press her lips against his. “Ok. Well, I love you and I will see you at home.” 

“Love you too.”

* * *

 

Thea gripped Natalie’s hand pretty tightly, not that Natalie would complain. Natalie was sure coming here and seeing Oliver and Thea would be awkward and she felt guilty for having left it so long. Seeing Thea so worked up and worried that she’d only come back because she was sick only made it worse. But seeing them only made everything better. Everything just kind of seemed to fall into place again, as though no time at all had really passed. Except that Oliver was obviously a lot more attractive than he had been 12 years ago and that Thea was not the little girl she left behind.  

“So, is there anyone back in England I need to know about?” Thea asked, not so subtly.  

“You know you lasted a whole 10 seconds longer than I thought you would before asking. I’m great, my career’s amazing, I love my car. It’s really nice to know you care about me.” 

“Oh come on! This is me we are talking about! I’ve only been interested in guy gossip since my first crush on Eric from The Little Mermaid.” 

“Haha, I remember that. There’s no one to worry about interrogating. I haven’t exactly had time to have a relationship in the last 10 years, let alone go on a date.” 

“Natalie! Live a little. You’re young, you’re hot! I mean I’m digging the brunette look way more than your natural colour. You look more like your broth-”  

Thea and Natalie both paused. It was inevitable. It was impossible coming home and being around the only other people that she had trusted. Coming home to family was the hardest thing she knew she was going to face but she couldn’t deny the giddiness that mixed with the sadness when Thea compared her to her big brother. They had always been close and their bond had only intensified until Oliver had gone missing.  

“Well at least I still have a prettier face than he ever did.”  

“That is a relief.”  

The two girls arrived at the steps leading to the apartment block before entering, both significantly more sombre now than when the two had felt before. When the elevator pinged on arrival to the 13th floor, Natalie took a deep breath, turning the key slowly and stepping inside.  

It looked exactly the same. Save for the one frame Oliver had added of the three of them, the last thing he did before he disappeared back to Lian Yu after Tommy’s death.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the tags as people said that it was misleading that I had tagged it as an Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak fanfiction although other works have been tagged as such and have ended with a different pairing. It was never my intention to mislead but considering I plan to make this a slow burn, I felt the tagged pairing was fair. 
> 
> No copyright infringement intended. This is a work of fiction.

Oliver was cooking when Felicity returned home, William sat doing his school work at the island counter. She slipped her heels off and hung her bag up before giving Will a kiss on the cheek before doing the same to her fiancé. Hopping up onto the bar stool beside Will, she stole a tortilla chip from the open bag on the side, glad to be home.

“Hey, how was the rest of your day? Did the bank say anything?” Oliver asked when he turned around after putting the lid on the saucepan.

“Could have been better,” Felicity said, sighing. “Could’ve been a lot, lot better.”

“What happened?” Will asked.

“The bank said that our business model looked ok, but that they thought that the projections were overshot. Apparently, just because I have experience being your EA and being CEO before doesn’t guarantee that the company will do well.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad. Can’t you just scale back the projections, tell them you’ve had a look and then agree. If you match the original figures then they’ll see how credible it is,” Oliver said.

“I wish that was the only issue. They then said that having just the two of us with the level of success we are hoping for would be unrealistic, even if we did start hiring people after six months like we explained. They suggested we get the approval of the board too as they have business knowledge.” She stole a handful of chips, shoving them all into her mouth. Oliver and Will exchanged a glance which told the other that if she was comfort eating now, whatever else they’d said wasn’t good.

“They then proceeded to tell us the the QC building has had an offer put on it and that the buyer is willing to match any offers anyone else makes, and pay it back with a higher interest rate. The only reason we were able to even consider the building was because the price was so low and next to no-one is trying to expand or start-up in Star City. Now we have to find a new building unless we can come up with a better offer.”

“Do you really need the old QC building though? For two employees, it seems like a lot of wasted space and even if you do start hiring more, are you really going to need 32 floors? Oliver asked.

“It’s the fact that this building has so much history to your family. I wanted to build a legacy in the same place,” she said. “We are going to try and come up with something. I’m going to talk to Curtis tomorrow and try and come up with a plan for next week. I’m just glad to be home so I can change and indulge in a glass of wine. Or a bottle.”

“Dad said we had people coming for dinner. Diggle, Lyla, Aunt Thea and some old friend that’s in town,” Will reminded her. Felicity sighed, completely forgetting the conversation they’d had in Oliver’s office. She was certainly not in the mood for company tonight but she could hardly turn them away half an hour before they were supposed to be arriving.

“I forgot. I’ll go change into some pants instead of this skirt then we’ll set the table.” Felicity ran up the stairs while Will helped his dad finish some of the dishes.

“Did you and this Natalie ever date?” Will asked his dad. Oliver laughed.

“No. She was just always around. She’s a couple years younger than me and she was like a sister from the moment I was old enough to look after her.”

“Oh ok. I just didn’t want to be sat at the dinner table with Felicity and another one of your ex-girlfriends. It’s bad enough that she gets on with Laurel and Sara.”

“They’ll be fine. They have a lot in common actually. Natalie was always wicked smart. And she could slap a comeback at anyone as first as they through them.”

“Looking forward to hearing some of your childhood stories. Did she know my mom?”

“Yeah, they’d met once or twice I think. Only in passing at a party though, never properly. Natalie kind of had her own crowd at parties.”

“She was one of the popular kids? What was she doing around you?” William teased.

“Very funny. Natalie was friends with everyone. It was kind of hard to not meet her and instantly like her.”

Felicity returned at that point and the three of them worked together to set the table and finish up, just in time for the doorbell to ring.

“Hey Digg, Lyla,” Oliver said opening the door to his two friends.

“Thanks for inviting us. I’m just glad the sitter could work tonight on short notice,” Lyla said.

“Is she here yet?” Digg asked.

“Not yet,” Felicity said pouring Lyla a glass of red wine and passing Digg a beer. She glanced at Oliver who was hovering by the entry way looking nervous. She walked over to him while Will asked how baby Sara was.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Felicity asked.

“Nothing,” Oliver said, a little too quickly. Felicity gave him a knowing look. “I’m just a little worried about Natalie meeting everyone. I just want everyone to like her and get to know her.” She ignored the stabs of jealousy that emerged at how earnestly Oliver seemed to want everyone to like her. Although, she supposed she had no reason to. She’d never had to go through this with Oliver, meeting his friends in a conventional way. They were already all friends anyway.

“It’ll be fine. She seemed lovely this morning. And if she has any funny stories I’m sure we’ll all warm up to her very quickly.”

The door bell went and Oliver opened the door, smiling at Thea and Natalie, the latter of which was holding a green bag. Thea walked in first hugging Oliver then Felicity before going to embrace her nephew. Felicity saw Natalie hesitate before walking in and hugging Oliver. They both pulled back and smiled then turned to everyone else in the room.

“Everyone, this is Natalie. Nat this is my friend John Diggle, his wife Lyla and my son William,” Oliver said, everyone giving a little wave when he said their names.

“Hi, it’s really nice to meet you all. And thank you guys for inviting me to dinner.”

“Help yourself to the snacks on the table, dinner will be ready in a minute,” Oliver said to everyone. “Do you want a glass of wine?” Oliver asked Nat.

“Yes, please,” she replied. “I actually brought you something. It felt wrong turning up empty handed.” Oliver had a questioning look on his face at Natalie’s smirk. He let out a loud gasp, pulling everyone’s attention when he opened the green bag that she’d brought with her. “I told you it was wrong to turn up empty handed. Plus Thea said you hadn’t had it the whole time you’d been back.”

“I completely forgot it even existed. Where did you get this?”

“Turns out that Margarita’s is still open and when we went to get lunch she saw me and gave me a bottle of both.”

“What is it?” Diggle asked.

“A bottle of El Dorado 21-year-old rum and a bottle of Domaine Ramonet Montrachet Grand Cru white wine,” Oliver replied.

“The rum is easier to get than the wine but it’s beautiful. Especially with the spices used in Mexican food,” Natalie said. Oliver was still marvelling at the two bottles in his hands. “I find it impossible to believe that you haven’t had either of these since that night. It’s your favourite wine.”

“What night?” Diggle asked.

“Favourite? I thought your favourite was red wine?” Felicity asked at the same time, confused.

“I’ve always preferred white wine. It was just easier to share a bottle of red if we had any because you liked it.”

The timer went and William went into the kitchen to gather some of the dishes. 

“Let’s sit down and Nat can tell you about that night,” Oliver said, going in to the kitchen behind William to take everything out of the oven and dish up. Everyone sat down, Diggle and Lyla next to each other opposite Natalie and Thea. Felicity sat next to Thea and William next to her while Oliver took the free seat next to Natalie. Felicity was slightly hurt, having left the empty chair next to her for Oliver but Natalie started her story so didn’t dwell.

“It was Oliver’s 21st. The three of us, me, Tommy and Oliver, all went to this vineyard that me and Tommy had privately hired. We’d taken a flight to wine country and had planned this wine tasting and meal cooked by Antonio Carvali. We’d already tried the Domaine at a gala a couple years prior and thought it was exquisite so we had them bring out the other 8 first. We finished dinner as the sun was setting and we went to lay next to the fire pit, laughing with each other. Then Tommy disappeared to grab dessert, Oliver’s favourite dark chocolate mousse cake and brought out two bottles of the Domaine for us to share. Well, one for me and him, one for Oliver to enjoy himself.”

“I guess that was the last time the three of us hung out. Nat was at university and I went on the Gambit not long after that.”

“It was a good night,” Nat said, sharing a special smile with Oliver. “And the rum has been our favourite since we stole a glass out of Robert’s study stash.”

“You mean to tell me that Ollie Queen didn’t have a crazy 21st birthday party?” Diggle asked.

“We decided from a very, very early age that no matter what, we would spend our actual birthdays together, just the three of us. We all had issues with our parents and we decided that if they were going to be too busy working, or at an event that we would make a point of celebrating together. Sure, we all had parties but our birthdays were just for us.”

“I used to be so jealous when I was little. I never understood why I wasn’t allowed to go too. Then one birthday, I think it was Nat’s 14th birthday, I went with them. But I got bored and asked them to take me home and I never asked again,” Thea said, everyone laughing.

“Is that why you don’t celebrate your birthday on your actual birthday?” Felicity asked.

“You don’t celebrate your birthday?” Natalie asked.

“I do, just the day before or the day after. Just because you and Tommy aren’t here doesn’t mean I’m going to break a promise.”

Everyone grew silent at the shift in tone and ate before Thea broke the tension.

“Will, how’s school going?”

“Pretty good. I’m acing most of my maths and science assignments, it’s just my English ones that I’m having a tough time with. And Google can only do so much. Felicity, do you think you’ll be able to help me over the weekend?”

“I can give it a try, bud, but I don’t know how much help I’ll be. Give me a quadratic equation any day or a code that needs breaking but analysing literature is not my thing,” Felicity said.

“Hard to imagine the great Felicity Smoak having a weakness,” Lyla said, smirking while everyone but Natalie laughed.

“If you want, I might be able to help,” Natalie said, shyly. Everyone looked at her. “I mean, I don’t know how much it will help but I used to tutor people in English and my degree is in English literature and creative writing.”

“Are you sure?” William asked.

“Of course, as long as it’s ok with your dad,” she said, turning to Oliver.

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t be ok,” Oliver said.

“God knows your dad wouldn’t be able to help you,” Thea said.

“Hey! I’ll have you know Nat’s tutoring skills and remembering literature quotes saved my life on the island one time,” Oliver said.

“Really? How?” Natalie asked. Felicity couldn’t believe how easily he was talking about the island.

“I had to remember a quote from The Odyssey. ‘Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man'.”

“Of all the books I talked your ear off about and had to learn, that’s the one you had to remember,” she said, jokingly disappointed.

“You tutored Oliver in English?” Diggle asked

“Haha, yeah. He wasn’t bad at most subjects per se, he just didn’t try hard enough. But when our English teacher found out we were friends, he added me tutoring Oliver on as extra credit for both of us.”

“She made English fun. Plus, once she taught me how to analyse for stylistic devices and then told me that my interpretation or reading couldn’t be wrong, I was hooked. I mean, finally a subject that agreed with me that I’m never wrong.” Everyone laughed.

Once everyone had finished dinner, Oliver brought out the chocolate fondue with churros for dessert. Everyone tucked in, no one making conversation, instead just eating the delicious chocolatey goodness.

“I’m going to need do an extra workout tomorrow after all of this food,” Diggle said to everyone’s amusement.

“Do you know of any good gyms around here? I don’t really want to mess up my routine while being here,” Natalie said.

Everyone froze when they realised they couldn’t exactly tell her that their own private gym was also the vigilante’s headquarters. They couldn’t exactly tell her that her best friend was also said vigilante.

“I don’t really know. The gym I go to is an ex-military only place. I could ask Laurel though. I think she used to go to one by the river before she moved.”

“I’ll ask her when I talk to her,” Natalie said.

“You’re going to talk to Laurel?” Both Queens asked, shocked. Oliver had been clued in to Laurel’s anger towards Natalie by Tommy when he’d come home from his five years away. Everyone else exchanged glances that said they felt there was more to that comment than they were letting on.

“Yeah. I figured it can’t hurt to talk to her about everything that happened. I mean, we were close at one point and I don’t really want to have that hanging over us any longer. There’s some things of hers at the apartment too that she might want.”

“It makes sense. If she can forgive Oliver then I’m sure she can forgive you,” Thea said.

Dessert was quickly finished and the dirty plates were taken into the kitchen. William retired to bed, saying goodnight to everyone after checking that Natalie was still ok to help him with his assignment over the weekend. She assured him she was and said she would arrange something with his dad before she left. Everyone else headed over to the lounge to talk more and allow Digg, Lyla and Felicity to get to know Natalie more. Neither Oliver nor Natalie commented on how close Thea had stayed to the latter throughout the evening. Felicity didn’t comment on how Oliver was oblivious to the fact he had done the same.

“So you said you have a degree in English literature. What is it that you do?” Diggle asked.

“Oh, I run my own publishing house, Tsundoku Publishing. I’ve always known I’ve wanted to be an editor. I did an internship at Hachette after university in London and loved it but I found that some writers were being ignored, either because they were considered ‘too old’ or ‘too young’ and I wanted writing to be inclusive to everyone. So I started my own company. It was scary. I’d only been in the industry for 4 years before opening my first branch but it snowballed and we’ve been able to open three, now a fourth here, in about four years.”

“Damn, that’s impressive,” Digg said in awe. “How’d you come up with the name?”

“She’s been waiting years to use it,” Oliver said, smirking. Natalie shot him a look that Oliver just winked at.

“I’ve always had this obsession with unique words. Always. I just think the rarity and meaning of some of these words are so beautiful. I lost someone really close to me when I was about 5 and it taught me early on that life is short and you should live it fully. It’s a Japanese word meaning books bought and left on a shelf unread. I took it as a metaphor for life. So many books will be left unread, so many moments will be missed if you don’t take every opportunity that comes your way. I don’t want any books left unread on my shelf when I go. And I don’t want the writers we publish to have any regrets that they didn’t publish their writing.” Everyone was left speechless. In their line of work, the possibility of losing someone was always so high. This ideology for life was something they all strived for, understanding that the gift of life was too precious not to live to its fullest.

“That….. That’s a really beautiful meaning.”

“It’s the first tattoo Nat got. She gave a similar explanation to the tattoo artist when it was over and made him cry. Then Tommy made a comment about how wise she was for a 16 year old and he couldn’t believe that she was under 18. He made her promise that her dad wouldn’t kill him when he found out.”

“Haha, I forgot about that. I still don’t think my dad knows I got it.” _Not that he’d notice anything that I did,_ she added mentally. Oliver looked at her as if he knew what she'd thought and gave her a sympathetic smile. 

Diggle looked at his watch before nodding to Lyla. “We need to get going, the sitter will need to leave soon. Thank you for a great evening. Natalie, it was so nice to meet and hear stories about this one. We should do this again.”

“Definitely, it was lovely to meet you both too.” Diggle shook her hand while Lyla gave her a brief hug.

“See you tomorrow?” Diggle asked Oliver.

“Yes, I’ll sort out a time for Natalie to help Will and then we can get some work done.”

The couple both hugged Felicity and left before Natalie stood up. “Do you need any help with the dishes?” She asked.

“No, you’re a guest, it’s fine,” Felicity said.

“No, please. Let me help. It’s my way of saying thank you for being such good hosts tonight.”

Oliver moved Felicity to the side to have a quiet conversation. “Would it be ok if me and Nat did the dishes? I’d just like to talk to her about some things in private?” Felicity looked over to where Thea and Natalie were having their own conversation. She could hardly say no. Not when Oliver and Natalie had barely had any private time to talk.

“I suppose so. I can go upstairs and get some work done. I have some searches I can do and I should try and start planning for our new proposal to the bank.”

“Thank you,” Oliver said, giving Felicity a quick kiss.

Thea stood up when Oliver and Felicity returned. “I’m going to head off, I’m shattered and I have some things I need to do tomorrow.” She turned to Natalie. “Text me when you get home safely, please? And call me tomorrow if you want to grab a drink. Or want to go shopping.” She turned to her brother.

“Are you not staying with Thea?” Felicity asked Natalie.

“No, I’m not. I decided that it wouldn’t feel like being home if I was in a hotel. And despite the fact it will feel a little weird, it would feel weirder if I just left it sat there empty while I’m here. Plus, there’s some pretty good memories in those walls.” She and Oliver shared a smile.

“As long as you text me when you get home so I know you are ok, I will allow you to stay there. Thank you for dinner, bro, just like I remembered. And I’ll see you later, Felicity.” She hugged everyone, leaving Natalie until last and lingering a little longer, before making her way to the door.

“I’m going to head upstairs and get some work done. It was really nice getting to know you, Natalie. I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow if you come over to help Will. Oliver, I’ll see you when you come to bed, love you.” And with that, she retreated up the stairs leaving Natalie and Oliver to have a chat and wash some dishes. Just like old times.


End file.
